Helping others is the way we help ourselves.
~Oprah Winfrey
What is Peer Support?
Peer supporters are people who use their lived experience of recovery from mental health concerns or substance use disorders to support others working through their journey.
Combined with skills learned in formal training, their experience and knowledge put them in a unique position to offer support, share their knowledge, and relate in a way that have made this evidence-based practice a rapidly growing part of treatment.
“A sweet friendship refreshes the soul.”
How Does It Work?
In life, relationships are crucial to well-being. We call friends in hard times, visit family members when they aren’t feeling well, and often seek support groups for people who have experienced challenges similar to our own, like chronic disease or loss of a loved one.
In the same way that we reach out to someone who will understand, Peer Support Specialist can provide understanding during a time when many feel alienated and hopeless.
Peer supporters are more than just people who have been there. Peer Support Specialists work hand-in-hand using their training and skills to support recovery in conjunction with professionals like therapists, social workers, and psychiatrists. Our Peer Support Specialist are required to complete several training sessions and are ultimately certified through the Kentucky Department of Behavioral Health.
Being A Peer Support
Peer Support Specialist are “experts by experience” and because Peer Support Specialist use their own experiences, many at Four Rivers Behavioral Health are or were recently in treatment themselves. Throughout the treatment process our clinicians are always on the lookout for someone they believe would make a good peer support person.
In addition, we list open peer support positions on our website along with other career opportunities. Our Peer Support Specialist work in a full range of clinical settings, including crisis services, mental health, substance use and services for young people like our youth drop in center, The Zone.
Being a peer support is not just a way to help someone working through situations similar to your own, it also can be part of your treatment journey. Many find that being a peer support keeps their own progress front-and-center for them. Furthermore, helping others is, in many instances, an important part of the recovery process.
